Knife blade construction



April 24, 1951 F. E. GRUBE'R KNIFE BLADE CONSTRUCTION Filed Dec. 19, 1946 Fl(5.2 %5 2/6 FIG! 3nventor F RANGI'S E. G RUBER (Ittorneg Patented Apr. 24, 1951 KNIFE BLADE CONSTRUCTION Francis E. Gruber, St. Paul, Minn; assignor to Brown & Bigelow, St. Paul, Minn.

Application December 19, 1946, Serial No. 717,191

My invention relates to an improvement in a knife blade construction.

An object of myinvention is to provide a knife blade whereby such blade may be made more simply and economically than heretofore possible.

Another object of my invention resides in providing a knife blade whereby the cutting blade portion thereof may be stamped from thin ribbon steel and secured between two fiat side members which form a shoulder for hinging the blade in a knife. handle.

.Heretofore a knife blade has been fashioned from a relatively thick piece of steel so that the thin cutting blade, as part of the original stock,

. is integral with a thick shoulder. This necessitated forgin and grinding away of a large portion of metal to provide a thin cutting blade and leave a thick shoulder for hingedly securing the blade in a knife handle. As a result much time and labor was required to fashion a thin blade which also had a thick shoulder.

It is a primary feature of my invention to provide a knife blade by stamping the cutting'blade portion from a thin ribbon of steel, or in any other suitable manner, sufficient in thickness for the cutting blade itself, and constructing a shoulder for said blade consisting of two flat pieces secured on each side of the rear portion of the blade. The plates are recessed to receive and position the end of the cutting blade; thus, thick steel stock does not have to be ground away to provide both a thin cutting blade and a thick shoulder for hinging the knife blade in a handle.

It is a further primary feature of my invention to provide a knife blade whereby the thick shoulder of a blade is not integral with the cut ting blade portion thereof.

The details and features will be more clearly and fully hereinafter set forth together with other objects of my invention.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification:

Figure 1 is a side view of the knife blade.

Figure 2 is an end view.

Figure 3 is an edge view looking at the back (unsharpened edge) of the blade. V

Figure 4 is a side view of the inside surface of one of the shoulder plates.

1 Claim. (Cl. 30-348) As a part of my knife blade A I provide a cutting blade I I] with holes II and I2 located I on the base thereof. The blade III is preferably made by stamping it from a piece of thin ribbon steel of uniform thickness but may be made in any other suitable manner. The cutting edge I3 is put on the blade Ill after the blade has been shaped.

Shoulder base I4 of knife blade A is composed of shoulder plates I5 and I6 which are identical. Shoulder plates I5 and I6 are provided with holes I1 and I8 which are positioned for alignment with holes II and I2 of cutting blade III as hereinafter set forth. Shoulder plates I5 and I6 are recessed at I9 thereby adapted to receive the base end 2'1 of the cutting blade I0.

Plates I5 and it are further provided with channels 20 which form the round hole 22 when the plates I5 and I6 are placed together to receive blade I0. Hole 22 is used for hinging purposes. Plates I5 and I6 are also provided with holes 23 Which form the complete hole 25 when.

the plates are properly positioned together. Hole 25 is used for hingedly securing the blade in a knife handle.

' The knife blade A is made up by positioning on the sides of the rear portion 21 of blade l0 shoulder plates I5 and I6 so that the holes II and I2 of the cutting blade III line up with the holes I I and I8 of the plates I5 and I6. The end 21 of the cutting blade I0 is positioned in the recesses I9 of the shoulder plates. The recesses I 9 are of such a depth that when the cutting blade end 21 is positioned between the shoulder plates I5 and I6 and in the recesses I9, the

plates I5 and I6 fit flush together and firmly hold the blade end 21 therebetween. The cutting blade I [I is held securely between said shoulder plates by rivets 26 fastened into holes II, I2 and I! and I8 respectively forming the knife blade A with an enlarged end I4. The shoulder plates I5 and I6 may be welded to the end portion of the blade III. Thus the method of makin knife blade A is simplified by stamping the blade III of thin sheet steel and then by following the method, the enlarged shoulder end I4 is made by providing heavy plates I5 and I6 which are riveted to the blade. This method forms a thick shoulder end I4 which is also formed with right angularly disposed holes 22 and 25 which permit the blade to be hinged and secured in a handle not shown in the drawings.

I claim:

A knife blade comprising a thin blade portion of uniform thickness throughout, the rear end of said blade having holes formed transversely therein, juxtaposed shoulder plates having a width equal to that of said blade, said shoulder plates having recessed portions providing transverse shoulder means extending the width of said plates, the rear end of said blade being positioned in said recessed portions of said plates in abutting engagement with said shoulder means, said shoulder plates having holes formed transversely therein in alignment with said holes formed in the rear end of said blade, rivets extending through the holes of said plates and said blade to secure said plates and blade together whereby said plates form the base for the knife blade, and two right angularly disposed spaced holes extending through said shoulder plates for re- 4 ceivin attaching means for hingedly securing said knife blade to a handle.

FRANCIS E. GRUBER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 Number Name Date 992,476 Bartlett May 6, 1911 1,202,299 Lutz Oct. 24, 1916 

